PROLIFERATION AS A FACTOR IN THE NATURAL CONTROL OF 
THE MEXICAN COTTON BOLL WEEVIL, 
INTRODUCTION. 
EARLIEST OBSERVATIONS. 
Soon after the beginning of the laboratory work upon the cotton 
boll weevil at Victoria, Tex., in 1902, it was noticed that the attack of 
_ the weevil was frequently followed by a very decided change in the 
structure of the tissues near the point of attack in both buds and bolls. 
The significance of this change was not at that time fully appreciated, 
and the observations made upon the weevil did not include records as 
_ to the occurrence and effect of this phenomenon. For this reason the 
early observations made before the autumn of 1903 have furnished 
~ comparatively little material which could be used in making tabular 
- statements, such as have been made from more recent studies of the 
_ effect of proliferation upon the development of the boll weevil. 
When and by whom proliferation was first observed in cotton is not 
_ known to the writer, but no publication relating to this phenomenon 
prior to that made in Bulletin No. 45 of the Bureau of Entomology, 
_ pages 96 and 97, has been found. The earliest notes upon the occur- 
rence of proliferation and its effect upon the weevil were made by the 
_ writer in September, 1902. Since that time there has been gradually 
~ accumulating in the notes of the agents of the Bureau of Entomology 
_ who have been studying the boll weevil, a large amount of data bearing 
~ upon this subject. | 
In the plans made for the work of 1904, at the beginning of the 
_ season, definite provision was made for observations upon this phe- 
nomenon in a number of varieties of cotton and for testing the 
influence of fertilizers in stimulating a greater manifestation of prolif- 
_ eration in the plants treated. Since that time the observations upon 
_ proliferation and its effect upon weevil development and injury have 
_ been carried on continuously. 
SCOPE OF PRESENT DISCUSSION. 
The present paper does not pretend to be a study of proliferation in 
_ the botanical aspects of the question, but rather a practical statement 
of the large number of observations made by agents of the Bureau of 
Entomology primarily regarding the effect of this formation of loose 
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